FCC appears to be settling on the National Broadband Plan…

EDIT:  http://bit.ly/bcDfZl  –  FCC called out on this one no direct responses.

*sigh* some action is better than no action but it looks like the FCC is not gong to be able to stand it’s ground like I had hoped…

What is the goal they are setting on the new National Broadband Plan?    They want the average American to have access to 4 mbps internet by 2020…    That’s right ..  only 4 mbps with 100 mbps to be available in urban centers.

2020 – that’s 10 YEARS away (article here btw and check out the comments) – the rest of the world will likely have 1 gbps (1,000 mbps or 10 times the speed) by then.  And some will even have it by the end of this year and next year.   Interestingly enough if you’re lucky, Google might have hooked up your community already.   But note, by this proposed FCC logic, wouldn’t this mean joe american’s won’t see it until by 2030?  Thanks Google for preparing us for the future – TODAY!

What I think just about everyone fails to realize in this argument is that there is an indisputable connection between innovation in this day and age and the speed, reliability and accessibility of the Internet.   Think of the changes that have come along in just the last 10 years (along with the speed and penetration of the net).  I mean even 15 years ago there were easily still pen pals, which is pretty much an exhibit in a museum for the new generation.

I think this is difficult for people to see because they lack the ability to foresee the future.  You’ll just have to trust me.  Over the next 10 years there will be  plenty of innovations to come and they will continue to scale with the development and distribution Internet access (just significantly slower in the US as the US will not be a world leader in this area).

With Cloud computing (the fuel for the next generation of innovation via internet), the next 10 years are going to be HUGE.  Why would the US settle on being second rate via world standards?     Does this country only compete when it comes to the Olympics?   Shouldn’t the US be a leader or THE leader?

Didn’t you guys invent the god damn Internet?!

And above all – since when does the FCC HAVE to step in to try to coerce well established corporate entities to play nice and actually compete with each other again?

I read another article the other day which highlights a new trend.  Skilled labor is looking away from the US already – instead of towards as it has been previously.

This (limited broadband access) will only indicate another reason to look to developing a country which has the resources and the incentives to really motivate talented professionals from outside the country (and perhaps retain some of those who are already on US soil).

There’s a much bigger picture to consider here and I really find it interesting how people think they can defend efforts to impede technological advancement and innovation.  Ridiculous.  There’s NO reason why urban centers cannot be equipped with comparable bandwidth as other countries do.

And don’t give me that “The US is so huge and there’s so much ground to cover” crap.   How did ANY infrastructure EVER get developed with that disposition in mind?   How did they build highways?   Railways?   The ground work is laid out already and in fact US citizens already paid for much of these ‘infrastructure’ revamps via a premium on their respective cable and phone bills over SEVERAL years.  There’s evidence of this everywhere .   I’ll edit his post with additional information related here shortly.

Consumers are paying (and have paid) for the infrastructure created so the big cable / telcos can continue to nickel and dime us over services.   Yes, you paid for the infrastructure to build out Time Warner Cables ability to show you an on demand HD movie for the low low price of $6 (what a rip off / scam).

Meanwhile you have companies like Google which are trying to push a distribution method which ALREADY covers any areas already hit by existing Analog TV spectrum network.  Remember the DTV transition?  Well the old spectrum it used went up for bid and here is one of the proposals of what to do with it (public broadband access)

The White Spaces Coalition consists of eight large technology companies that plan to deliver high speed broadband internet access beginning in February 2009 to United States consumers via existing “white space” in unused television frequencies between 54-698 MHz (TV Channels 2-51). The coalition expects speeds of 80 Mbps and above, and 400 to 800 Mbps for white space short-range networking.^[6] The group includes Microsoft, Google, Dell, HP, Intel, Philips, Earthlink, and Samsung Electro-Mechanics.

If that doesn’t put into perspective of just how pathetic this 4 mbps offering is over 10 *YEARS*, then I guess it just cannot be done.

Another extremely important item of note here is look at the VIP list of companies pushing for public broadband on that now unused spectrum.  That’s not exactly the B list.  So if the FCC isn’t going this path, you can only imagine the power and influence and dollars flying into the other side of the equation….

Please feel free to take action at this point (by clicking the below link) and let the FCC know that this plan does nothing more than put stupidity in motion (or perpetuates it):

https://secure.freepress.net/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=321